


Invention of a Lifetime

by Mts22



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Crossover, Eventual Smut, F/M, Flirty Richie, Friends to Lovers, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, High School, M/M, POV Multiple, Richie has an invention (hence the title hee hee), Swearing, demogorgon watch out, pennwise who???, small but cute eds, stan being a savage as always
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-07 14:13:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15909888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mts22/pseuds/Mts22
Summary: When Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak found a strange bald girl in the woods one afternoon, their first thought was not that she secretly had superpowers with scientists trying to murder her, but instead, might have escaped from Juvy and had a number as a name. He soon realized he was only half true.Just your average slow burn teen high school story that dives into the relationships, hardships, and humor between the losers club as they discover the upside down and the secrets many of the Hawkins kids keep.PSA: if you love the dynamic between Bill, Stan, Mike, Bev, Ben, Richie, and Eddie. Then this is the story for you. We support ALL members uwu.





	1. Sunday morning

Bill swiftly moved from table to table dodging wandering kids, un-pushed in chairs and the numerous amount of waiters coming his way full force while he simultaneously balanced plates of food on his forearms. Calling the diner where he works at busy would be an understatement. But it’s Sunday morning and he understands. Families with their screaming toddlers come in extra early and stay all morning while their unattended kids with chocolate all over their faces decide it would be fun to jump out of the booth just as a waitress is walking by with a piping hot tray of food. Regardless, Bill enjoys his job on certain days. There is simply nothing better than the sun setting and knowing your shift is over. Where your friends come in towards the last hours of the night and according to Richie, lounges out on top of the bar, or Bev, who always puts in music into the jukebox or Ben who always helps out cleaning. 

“I’ll be with you in a minute, Ma’am.” He said to a woman sitting at the bar. He dropped the plates in the large sink and returned quickly with a piping hot pot of coffee. Sitting directly next to her was a familiar set of light brown curls faced down in a crossword puzzle. Bill sighed.

“Coffee?” He asked the woman who was very invested in her phone. She mumbled a yes and Bill poured her a mug. He glanced over at Stan who put his crossword down to look up at him.

“Whatcha doing here?” He asked.

“Oh you know, just sitting enjoying my crossword.”

Bill put and coffee pot down with an exaggerated huff to show his exhaustion. He rested his elbows on the table and cradled his head with his hands in front of Stan. He closed his eyes.

“I mean why aren’t you with the others at the quarry.”

“No reason in particular.”

“Are you kidding? I would die to be in your place. Go enjoy the sun and the water!”

“No, no. I like doing the morning crosswords. Plus I figured I could give you company. I can wait until your shift is over.”

Bill cracked an eye open. Stan was staring back at him, his head cocked to the side a bit. His brown eyes were playful as if saying you better be grateful for having someone sit through the madness of a Sunday morning shift so they don’t feel left out.

“My shift doesn’t end until 12!”

Stan checked his watch. “Well, that just means I have two more hours to complete my crossword puzzle. They really are quite entertaining. I’ll need to get you into them.” He looked down at his paper. “Speaking of which, who was Simba’s mate in the Lion King?”

Bill laughed. “I have to work.”

“Oh come on, you love-”

“It’s Nala, Stanley,” Bill said over his shoulder as he walked away.

\------------

“Well, you know what? Fuck you because my project is going to be fucking amazing.”

“Richie it’s not going to be your goddamn project if you do none of the work.”

“Oh come on eds, I do plenty of work.”

“Ya, if you wanna call work sitting on your-

“You guys, we just got here enough bickering. This is my one day of peace” Beverly said from the front seat. 

Mike looked in the rearview mirror to see Eddie shoving Richie while he just giggled.

Ben climbed over them wrestling and opened the door and took a whiff of the fresh air. 

“Hey, we never ended up picking up Stan,” Ben said.

“Most likely he’s with Bill at the diner. What’s new.” Mike said a little agitated.

“What’s with all the tension in the air?” Bev said hooking an arm across Mike and Eddie’s necks squeezing them close. “I say we get completely shitfaced and play chicken.” 

“Fuck yeah!” Richie yelled peeling off his shirt and pants and running head first towards the cliff. 

“No, you get back here! I’m gonna be the first to jump! You got to last time!” The three of them laughed as they watched Eddie’s tiny figure chase after Richie while struggling to get his layers of clothes off. 

The rest of the morning was filled with tackling and chicken fights and swimming for hours never getting tired of the endless pool games. They were the only ones there so they could basically do whatever they wanted. It was their thing. Their hidden spot away from the rest of the world. It was one of the nicest days of the week. The rising sun reflected over the water casting a shimmery glow against the five of them. Being together, with no responsibilities was pure bliss to them. For Ben, it was his favorite day of the week. It didn’t matter to him that school was the next day and the fact that he knew he would stay up all night helping Richie with his homework over the phone. He loved his friends and was happy to have them.

Beverly was laying on a towel, her large sunglasses taking up most of her face. Mike was sitting on the rocks talking to Ben about comics they’ve been reading and Eddie was resting on a towel a few feet away from them. Eddie was watching Richie dry himself off. 

There were only a few times where Eddie would see Richie without glasses. Richie would even wear glasses in the water he loved them so much. Eddie can’t really blame him though, the poor kid wants to see. But one of those times was now. His brown eyes didn’t look so big with glasses. He looked mature and different. His freckles were more visible and the shape of his eyes made Eddie’s heart flutter. It was such a stupid thing, finding someone’s eyes so enchanting to look at. Eddie wanted to roll his eyes at how dramatic Richie was being. He was whipping his hair back and forth like a dog trying to dry itself off. Richie flipped his hair one final time and it was wild and a complete disaster but fitted him so well. Eddie’s flicked his eyes away from Richie sighed a loud longing side. Not loud enough for Richie to hear but for Bev to turn her head and pull her sunglasses down.

“Eddie my dear, whatever is the matter?” Bev said is a sarcastic tone.

“You sound like my mother.”

“You take that back!” Bev said with a gasp.

“Not your voice, the way you call me ‘your dear’!”

“Hey he’s right Bev, nobody is allowed to call Ed's ‘my dear’ except for me!” Richie said plopping down in the middle of them with a towel over his neck.

“Ew Richie, I was saying how my mother calls me that.”

“Well, I’m going to have to have a word with Soni-”

Eddie smacked Richie and he began to surrender laughing.

“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot to tell you guys!” Bev said sitting up quickly.

“What?” They all said chimed in.

“So I’m friends with this girl from the North side of town and she told me about this wild party happening this weekend. All the Northside kids at one huge party. She told me I could come, with a few friends.”

“Hell yeah! And who’s this girl you speak of?” Richie said with a suggestive smile

“Her name’s Max. You guys are actually pretty alike, I think you’d like her.” Bev answered. She looked around to see if anyone else was interested. Ben and Mike gave her blank stares and Eddie seemed to have put on a pout.

“I don’t know, you remember the last time what happened when we were all at a Northside party, right?” Ben said.

“Yeah, but this will be different,” Bev said. Through mumbled words, she managed, “I won’t be an idiot this time.”

“Sure, I’m down,” Mike said. “But we’re keeping an extra good watch on you.”

“Okay deal,” Bev said. “Eddie? Ben?”

“I’m with Mike,” Ben said, his arms crossed.

“Yeah I mean, if my mom will let me.”

“Aw come on, Eds. Drunk Eddie is my favorite Eddie. We’ll have a blast.” Richie said.

“Like I said, doofus. If my mom lets me.” Eddie shot back.

“You can sneak out! For goodness sakes, you’re turning 18 soon!”

“Richie, you of all people know my mom. I mean how long have we been friends?”

“Okay, let’s just leave it at a maybe,” Bev said interrupting.

There was a brief moment of silence and Eddie continued to pout. Ben decided to change the subject.  
“Stan and Bill still aren’t here, huh.” He said checking his watch.

“Yeah, they’re probably off-” 

“Beep beep Richie,” Mike said.

They all turned to Mike. There was a moment of awkward tension. Mike raised his hands up to defend himself.

“ Hey, the diner holds Bill up all the time. Speaking of the diner, anyone else hungry?” 

“I’m down for some food, there are sandwiches in the cooler,” Bev said.

“Yeah, I’m down.” Ben chimed in.

“Yeah, definitely could you toss me one?” Richie said. Mike grabbed a turkey sandwich and tossed it to Richie.

“Well, I’m not hungry and I’m looking for an adventure so I’m gonna go explore the barrens. If anyone wants to come they’re welcome.” Eddie said.

They all began to munch on their sandwiches as Eddie waited for a reply. Richie stared at Eddie and then his sandwich. Then back at Eddie, then at his sandwich.

“I’d love to join you!” Richie said springing up from the ground. He turned to put his sandwich back and heard Bev say extra loud, “Oh this turkey sandwich is so good! I was so hungry before but the cheese and the mustard and the turkey and the soft bread really hit the spot.”

“Oh screw you, the sandwich will be here when I get back. We’ll be gone for like, what, an hour? At most? If any of you eat it I’ll kick your asses.” Richie said walking off

“I’d like to see you try, chicken legs!” Mike yelled in reply. Richie flipped them off as he ran to catch up with Eddie.


	2. The mysterious bald girl

The diner was slowing down thank god. It wasn’t everyday Stan would give up his whole Sunday morning for someone just so they would have a little company. Even if it meant sitting at the bar doing nothing for almost three hours. But Bill was sweet. He came over and they talked whenever he could. Stan cares about Bill. He wants to make him happy when he can. It wasn’t always that Bill was kind and cheery. He had a dark part of his life when his brother died years ago and Stan stuck through it with him. Through his worst, Stan was there. 

Stan was waiting at the bar still drinking a strawberry milkshake with whipped cream. He glanced over at the clock to see it read 12:24. He turned to find Bill continuing to bust tables and collect tips. To his luck he saw Chelsea run in the door, holding her work uniform and quickly making her way towards Bill. Chelsea was supposed to take the next shift but was clearly late. Stan couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could tell she was apologizing. She then went on her tip-toes and kissed Bill on the cheek and ran into the back room to change. 

Bill’s expression made Stan laugh to himself. He caught Bill’s eye from across the diner. Bill was beet red and Stan sipped on his milkshake, raising his eyebrows at him. For a sudden moment, as Bill watched Stan make those eyes at him from across the diner while he sucked on his straw, it gave him deja vu. Bill shook out of it and rolled his eyes and shook his head going behind the bar counter to take off his apron and hat.  
Stan opened his mouth to say something but Bill cut him off.

“I don’t know why she did that so don’t even ask.”

Stan laughed. “You have no idea what I was going to say.”

\--------------------

“I thought you hated the barrens.” Richie began pulling vines away from his face while trying his best to keep up with Eddie. “You know, when we were younger you used to be so scared of the sewers. Almost to a point where my teasing would turn into me terrorizing you.”

“Your teasing was and still is always terrorizing to me. Plus I wasn’t scared, I was just disgusted.”

“So what made you instantly become not disgusted. It’s still the same greywater. Ya know, piss and shit.”

Eddie turned around to face Richie. “Maybe the fact that being around your garbage mouth made everything else look like cotton candy.”

Richie’s mouth dropped open. Eddie just smiled and kept walking.

“Hey, you get back here!” Richie said running up to Eddie. He slung his arm around Eddie and pulled his head close to him while giving him a noogie. “You sir, are lucky you’re cute.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, the faintest of blushes on his cheeks, and pushed him off. “It’s still gross it’s just… I’m tired of being sheltered and clean and perfectly healthy. I’m dying for that day where I come home completely filthy and my mom just looks at me shocked. Where I come in the door, mud tracks behind me, not giving a shit.”

They continued to walk through the swampy water along the side of the river. Richie considered what he was saying. It still didn’t add up in his head because Eddie has always been a neat freak. It didn’t make sense why all of a sudden he wanted to be the complete opposite.

“Sonia giving you a hard time lately?”

Eddie sighed. They reached the entrance to the sewer tunnel and he leaned against it. He looked up to Richie standing above him. “I try to stay out of the house as much as possible, but it’s only making her more attached.

Before Richie really met Sonia for the first time, he would hate the way Eddie would talk about her. How he was always angry he had to always go home for dinner, or go clothes shopping with her, or how he had to take a bath every night. He thought it was completely messed up that Eddie had a perfect mother waiting for him to come home with hot food on the table and open arms while Eddie treated her terribly. Not everyone could have a loving mother that looked after their child. But as they grew up together and Richie began to know the real Sonia, his views completely changed.

“Well, I’m always your getaway car. Whenever you need me.”

Eddie smiled. Richie was the most unorganized, distracted, and forgetful person to exist, but when it came to his friend’s well-being, he was incredibly reliable.

“Even when it’s two in the morning?”

“Yep.”

“Even when we’re incredibly pissed off at each other?”

“I mean, yeah.”

“Even when my mom isn’t even giving me shit and I just want you to pick me up so I can be with you?”

Richie didn’t say anything and just looked at him. Eddie blushed but held eye contact.

“Always.”

There was a split second where Richie and Eddie’s friendship would falter and it would turn into something different. That happened a lot lately. And they didn’t know what to do about it. Ever. 

Everything was interrupted when they heard a ruffle in the woods. They instantly turned towards the direction of the noise. The noise continued, sounding like an animal walking through the thickly overgrown plants.

“I think we should get out of here,” Eddie whispered. Richie didn’t answer. 

Eddie quickly picked up a stick and braced himself.

“Hello?” Richie called out to the movement a dozen feet away from them.

“It’s probably a fucking bear dumbass! Bear’s don’t speak!”

“No, bears make much more movement. It’s probably a cute little deer.” Richie whispered.

“It’s a snake. It’s definitely a snake and we’re going to die.”

Richie looked down to see that Eddie was inching closer to him.

“I thought you said you weren’t scared of the barrens,” Richie said slyly.

“I’m scared of fucking snakes, Richie! And unknown things in the woods that could possibly kill you!”

Richie laughed. “Okay, okay! I was just-”

Suddenly something emerged from the woods. All they could see was yellow. They gasped when they realized it was a girl.

“What the fuck?” Richie whispered.

The girl looked like a deer in headlights when she saw the two of them. She tried to run back into the woods but Eddie screamed, “wait!”

She was wearing nothing but a huge yellow t-shirt and her head was bald. She stopped when she heard Eddie tell her to wait.

“Are you alright? Do you need help?” Richie said inching closer to her.

She slowly turned to face them. Eddie couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. She didn’t look young, definitely a teenager. But she was small, short and fragile.

She slowly nodded. “I’ve made a mistake.” Her voice was squeaky and helpless.


	3. Hawkins meets Derry

Stan got up from the counter, stretched his legs and arms and yawned. Bill came out of the backroom wearing a yellow t-shirt with ratted jean shorts. He had a bag slung over his shoulder

“You ready?” he asked.

“Hell yeah,” Stan said.

Suddenly the door swung open and four boys came running in.

They both stared at the boys moving quickly through the diner, their heads turning in all directions clearly looking for something. He could hear them whispering to each other. Clearly up to no good. 

“Are they northside kids?” Stan asked.

“I’m going to assume yeah. Not sure why they’re down here, but thank god my shift is over.”

Stan was curious. He wasn’t sure why but he wanted to know what they were up to. 

“Come on, can we just go?” Bill asked getting impatient.

“Hold on just like two seconds. They’re plotting something.” Stan watched the group. There was one with brown curly hair that took up his whole head, a smaller boy with brown hair, a black boy with a bandana on, and a taller boy with black curly hair. Stan wasn’t sure why he was interested, but he was. Suddenly he made eye contact with the boy with black curly hair. The kid immediately tapped his friend's shoulder and pointed at me.

“Oh fuck,” Stan whispered. “They’re coming over here.”

“I told you we should have just left!” Bill whisper yelled.

The boy with the bandana was the first to speak. 

“Hi, we’re looking for our friend. You guys are from around here right? Derry?”

Stan nodded.

“She’s wearing a yellow shirt and she’s bald and pretty short and very skittish. Did you happen to see her or anyone suspicious?”

Their eyes were all wide staring at Stan, waiting for an answer. Stan kept his cool even though he wanted to freak out and run. “No, I haven’t seen anything.”

Their eyes shifted to Bill in hopes of a response. Instead of answering, he asked, “who are you guys?”

“We’re all up North. Hawkins?” The boy with brown curly hair said.

“Oh shit, that’s where that huge party is, isn’t it?” Bill asked. Stan didn’t know anything about a party.

“Yeah, this Saturday. I’m Dustin, this is Will,” he said pointing to each kid, “This is Lucas, and that’s Mike.”

Bill nodded. “Sorry, your friend is missing, we’ll keep an eye out. You said she’s… uh… bald?”

“It’s a long story but we’d appreciate your help.” The boy with black curly hair whose name appears to be Mike said. 

Stan and Bill looked at each other. “I’m not sure what she’d be doing down here in Derry. It’s quite a few miles from Hawkins.”

“We’ve looked everywhere,” Lucas said. “She’s been missing since early this morning.”

“Here’s my number. Please call if you find her or any information.” Mike said.

“Of course.” Bill answered.

The four of them thanked them, and quickly left the diner. Stan and Bill watched them as they hopped on their bikes and took off. They gave each other weird looks and then began to laugh.

“Who the fuck is that tall mysterious Richie look alike and why is he so attractive?” Stan said.

“Did you just call Richie attractive?”

“My left pinky toe is more attractive than Richie.”

“I think you have something to confess, mister.” Bill said poking Stan’s side and he couldn’t help but laugh and squirm.

“I called it didn’t I,” Stan said as they were exiting the diner and walking to Bill’s car.

“What?” Bill said.

“How they were up to something. I mean a missing bald girl? That sounds a little fishy, doesn’t it?”

Bill shrugged, “I don’t know, man. Northside kids are weird.”

The two of them laughed and drove down to the barrens blasting music.


	4. The bad men

Richie and Eddie looked at each other with panicked expressions. “Can you tell us where you came from?” Eddie said.

“I’ve made a mistake.” She said again. Her eyes welled up with tears. Richie watched panicked, as a teardrop dripped onto her yellow shirt. He wasn’t good with comforting anyone, especially emotionally hurt people. But Eddie? He was a professional. Usual it was Richie on the emotionally injured side and Eddie on the caretaker side.

“What did you do?” Eddie asked.

“I ran as far as I could.” She looked down and hugged herself looking incredibly vulnerable. Eddie almost felt bad trying to help her.

“We can help you. Wherever you need to go.”

“I’m not supposed to talk to you.”

Richie and Eddie looked at each other and then sighed simultaneously. 

“Who told you that?” Richie asked.

“Mike.” She answered.

There was silence again.

“Is Mike looking for you?” Richie asked again.

She didn’t answer. Eddie looked up at him. “What the hell should we do?”

“Did Mike hurt you?” Richie asked and Eddie nudged him.

“Mike is my friend.” She said.

“What’s your name?” Eddie asked.

She remained still. Slowly, she turned her wrist over and looked at the inside of her wrist. 

She held it up to show them. It was a very small number that read 011.

The two of them peered at her arm. Once it settled in, they looked at each other with wide eyes. “Do you think?...” Eddie whispered and Richie nodded. They both decided within one single look that she definitely escaped from somewhere that kept her hostage.

“Okay, well… if you want you can follow us and we can help you.” Eddie said to her.

She remained expressionless.

“We can get you back to Mike.” Richie said.

She began to nod and the two of them let out a sigh of relief. 

“Take my hand,” Eddie said putting his out. She looked down at her hand and Eddie leaned forward and wrapped his hand around hers. She tried to pull back but Eddie closed her hand around his with his other hand. 

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” Something in her eyes broke Eddie’s heart to pieces. Something told him she never has experienced or seen hand holding before. Richie’s eyes were burning into Eddie’s profile. Not out of jealousy, but out of true admiration and shock. Eddie quickly glanced at Richie and he looked away.

Eddie began to walk her away from the woods and into the swampy stream that only was ankles deep. 

“Eds we can’t tell the others about this. We have to do something now.” Richie said leading them towards the other exit of the barrens that led out in the backyard of someone's house.

“I know, I know. I have my phone on me. I’ll just call the police.” Eddie whispered back.

The three of them finally made their way out of the barrens while Richie trailed off a bit to make a quick phone call off of Eddie’s phone.

Eddie could hear only snippets of the phone call, “short, yellow shirt, bald.” Eddie’s stomach was doing backflips at the thought of the girls face as she’s being taken from them into the police car. No Mike like they promised. Eddie turned to look at her.

“I’m so sorry. We can’t help you if we don’t know anything.” Eddie said trying to release some of his guilt. It wasn’t working.

“I came from a bad place.”

“Did you escape?”

She nodded. “The men that are coming after me are bad.”

Eddie gasped. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why was he so stupid.

Richie trotted over and stopped short when he saw Eddie’s look of horror.

The girl stuck out two fingers towards Eddie with her pinky and ring finger folded and thumb facing towards the sky. A gun. She aimed it at Richie and he took a step back.  
“They will kill me.”

“Oh fuck.” Richie breathed out. “What the fuck did we get ourselves into.” In a matter of two seconds, everything shifted. Everything became more tense and everything suddenly became still.

“The fucking police are already on their way!” Eddie whispered yelled at Richie. The two of them proceeded to have a full-fledged argument filled with panic in the backyard of someone’s house. 

“Let's just go back to the barrens and hide!”

“I don’t wanna fucking get involved with the government Richie! This is some next level FBI shit! They’re going to kill her and we’re witnesses!

They heard sirens and Eddie tightened his grip on her hand.

“I won’t let you go.” He told her. The girl looked at him with wide eyes.

From the backyard, they could see a cop car skirt to a stop on the curb. The blaring sirens quickly shut off. And they watched as a man got out of the car and slam the door. He was tall and beefy with a tan uniform and a sheriff hat. He was making his way towards the three of them. 

“Tell us when and we’ll run. I’m not letting him take you.” Eddie whispered to her.

She was peering at him calmy much to his surprise. The cop wasn’t in a rush as he made his way over to them.

“Hey, kid.” He said his eyes darting from the girl to Eddie and Richie. “You alright?”

She nodded. Eddie and Richie stood there dumbfounded with nothing to say.

“You’ve got a few friends killing themselves looking for you. These doofuses managed to travel to four different towns today on their bikes alone.”

“Mike.” She said. A smile forming on her face.

Richie’s heartbeat was beginning to slow down. He glanced over at Eddie only to see he was looking back at him with a confused expression.

“I’m Chief Hopper, up from Hawkins Police Department. Do you guys live here?”

“No, we happened to find her wandering around-”

“The public swimming pool! Yeah, we were just sitting by the pool and … we saw her sitting alone and… she looked like she needed help.

Eddie and the girl’s heads turned quickly to look at Richie. Somehow Eddie knew Richie would cut him off. Rule number 1 was to never tell a soul about the barrens or the Quarry. It was their little secret. Their own private hangout.

Hopper took off his hat and rubbed the back of his neck giving Richie a pained expression. He continued. “So, you guys are from Derry?”

They both nodded.

“Your names?”

“I’m Eddie Kaspbrak.” Eddie said quickly and turned to Richie.

“I’m Richie Tozier.”

“And from what I’m hearing you’re called El?”

She nodded. Eddie glanced at her quickly. She was still clutching onto his hand. He wondered why she didn’t just tell him her name was El.

Hopper nodded. “Alright, I’ll take you back to the station. You can reunite with your friends and we can all live our happy lives.” He was expressionless which made Richie want to laugh. 

Eddie began to let go of her hand but she only held on tighter. “No please. Come.”

Eddie looked at the cop car, then to Hopper, then to Richie. 

“You’ll be fine, it’s a quick ride and you can trust him.”

She shook her head fast. 

“Listen kid, you two just come to the station and I’ll drive you back to wherever you wanna go. Consider it even since the two of you were smart enough to do the right thing.”

Eddie agreed and squeezed El’s hand. She smiled shyly at him with her bright but sad innocent eyes. El began to head for the cop car dragging Eddie along with her. Eddie turned around to see Richie say to himself, “Guess I won’t be able to enjoy my turkey sandwich after all.”


	5. A nickel to guess what Richie and Eddie are up to

Stan and Bill arrived to the Quarry hours ago and there was still no sign of Richie and Eddie. The five of them continued to lay on the rocks, Stan and Mike playing cards, Bill sunbathing, Bev reading a magazine and Ben reading a book. Richie’s turkey sandwich was long gone after Bill gobbled it down before anyone could tell him it was his. 

“Okay this is getting a little excessive,” Bev said checking her watch. “It’s been nearly three hours since they left.”

“I mean I’m not complaining. It’s so much quieter you have to admit.” Stan said. Mike threw a card at him. Mike, always the protective one. Stan threw the playing card back at him.

“I’ll give 25 cents to whoever guesses correctly to whatever the hell they’re doing,” Ben said looking up from their book.

“They’re definitely working on Richie’s project. God, he’s obsessed with that.”

“In the swamp water? How on earth would they get anything done?”

“I’m gonna say Richie was fucking around and drenched Eddie in sewer water and Eddie freaked out and they just went home,” Stan said.

“Yeah sure, they decided to walk the whole five miles home,” Ben said rolling his eyes.

“Hey, Eddie is a very convincing boy,” Stan said defending himself.

“Maybe a zombie came out of the woods and killed them,” Bev added.

“Or the cops found them and Richie accidentally told them they were burying a dead body and then took off running,” Mike added. They all started to laugh.

“Oh come on you guys don’t be naive,” Bill said taking his sunglasses off and sitting up. Stan watched Bill made his way over to them sitting down. He brushed his slightly damp hair out his face. Stan marveled at the way his skin glistened.

“I mean you guys know they definitely lied about the barrens and just went home to-,” Bill was cut off. 

“Please spare us and don’t say what I think you’re going to say,” Ben said and they all playfully groaned in disgust.

“Hey, you guys have no clue what I was going to say!” Bill said defending himself but laughing. 

They continued to laugh until suddenly they were laughing at Ben’s laugh which made them laugh more and then they kept laughing at the fact they wouldn’t stop laughing. Suddenly Mike screamed, “LAST ONE IN IS A ROTTEN EGG!” and everyone went ballistic. Bill then grabbed Stan who was quite tall and hauled him over his shoulder daunting to throw him over while the rest of them laughed and gunned it down the rocks for the water. Stan was screaming with laughter as he clutched onto Bill’s leg not letting him get to the water before him. The weight of Stan finally made Bill lose his balance and they toppled over onto the ground all intertwined. They continued to wrestle until Stan was on top of Bill with him pinning down Bill’s arms to the ground. He hoped Bill couldn’t hear the speed that his heart was racing at. Stan would do anything to lean down and close the space between them. But Bill was straight, and Stan knew he couldn’t have him. Having feelings for your best friend. How pathetic. Bill then got his hands free and was able to take off running. Stan, lost in a daze, took off running behind him.


	6. She sure is something special

“You two, wait here. El, follow me,” Hopper said as they walked in the back entrance of the dimly lit police station. He pointed to two chairs in what appeared to be his office. Eddie nodded to El and she let go of his hand. They watched Hopper take her down the long hallway to the front of the station. Probably where Mike was. They sat down in the chairs, Eddie feeling bummed.

“I kind of wanted to see the reunion. Plus if this ‘Mike’ that she mentions is some doctor or lab scientist freak, I wanna know.”  
Richie on the other hand, wasn’t listening. He shuddered looking around. “I hate police stations. You remember the last time I had an encounter with-” Richie said before being cut off.

“Yes, I remember it clear as day. I was scared shitless,” Eddie spat back. He was still feeling salty. Realization set into Richie and he smiled slyly.

“I was about fifteen years old. You were probably fourteen just turning fifteen also. Ninth grade. I decided it would be a funny idea to pretend I was deathly allergic to the school’s new chocolate fudge bar they served for dessert.”

Eddie shook his head trying to fight the urge to smile. He glanced up at Richie who was sitting beside him. His head cocked to a side with his ginormous but elegant eyes looking down at him. Richie smiled as he noticed Eddie was getting flushed.

“You know me, I can’t go a day without a nice hearty prank. I was feeling ambitious on a normal Friday afternoon.”

“Please, Richie.”

“In front of the whole cafeteria, I freaked out and started spazzing on the floor. Fizzy soda coming out of my mouth. My rolled up my sleeves to reveal hives all over my arms and on my neck. Bev did a damn good job with some red lipstick and concealer. The teachers ran over screaming, and every single student stood up gasping. But the reaction that was my favorite was-”

“You know I hate this story,” Eddie said interrupting.

“Yours.”

They looked at each other. Eddie’s cheeks were bright pink with embarrassment. Richie couldn’t keep his laugh in much longer.

“You came running to me crying and pumping my chest and shaking me yelling, ‘DON’T DIE ON ME, FUCK FACE! NOT TODAY!’ until the fucking emt girl had to pry you off of me.”

“That was a real asshole move,” Eddie said trying to keep a straight face. But as soon as he looked into Richie’s big goofy eyes, he burst out laughing. And together they couldn’t stop laughing. 

“It only ended up less funny when I was sitting in the police station. Having a little chat with the Derry police officer.”

They stopped laughing. What a way to kill the mood, Eddie thought.

“I remember walking out and seeing you on your bike waiting for me. I’ve never seen a look most disappointed and hurt in my life.”

“Yeah I remember,” Eddie said looking down. He does remember. It was the final straw for Eddie. He for sure thought that when he saw Richie come out of the police station, it would be the last time he would ever see him as a friend. He hated having his emotions played with so easily. His heart was ever so fragile. Like a china cabinet that repeatedly got hit with a baseball bat. Until the very last china dish was broken, that’s when Eddie lost it. They didn’t speak for two weeks.

“It was almost like I killed your dog,” Richie said shaking his head.

“Yeah, or shattered my fucking heart,” Eddie said quietly still lost in his thoughts. He didn’t realize he’d said that.

“I… did what?”

Before they could say anything else. El came through the doorway. The two of them looked up.

“My friends.” She said simply. She moved aside so four boys came into the room. One dark skinned, one tall, one short, and one with insanely curly hair. They looked young but old enough.

Richie and Eddie waved awkwardly at the enthusiastic group with huge smiles on their faces. Richie could tell they were happy to see their friend.

“I’m Richie and this is Eddie,” Richie announced slapping Eddie on the shoulder.

The four boys introduced themselves as Lucas, Dustin, Will and Mike. Lucas being the dark skinned one, Dustin being the one with curly hair, Will being the short one (even shorter than Eddie), and Mike the tall one whom they’ve heard so much about.

“Thanks for finding her, guys. We’ve been looking everywhere.” Mike said. Eddie raised his eyebrows at him. It was almost as if you looked quickly, he looked identical to Richie. Their height, hair, and skin color looked the same. Their faces were a lot different, but for some reason, he couldn’t put his finger to it how.

“So I’ve heard. It just doesn’t make much sense how she accidentally got lost and then walked five fucking miles south.” Richie retorted.

The kid with curly hair snorted. 

“Beats me. She sure is something special.” Mike said.

Lucas hit Mike in the side.

“Well, not like special as in like supernatural… you know…. Like special! To us!”

The three of them were glaring at Mike.

“Okay well, I hope I see you guys around we gotta run. Thank you again, Richie and… Sorry I don’t-”

“It’s Eddie.” Eddie managed. He watched as they clumsily all tried to go through the door at once, causing them to shove each other through in one big cluster.

“Are you coming El?” Will asked. He was the only one that didn’t get trampled. 

“I want to talk to them.” She said. Eddie and Richie flicked their eyes back and forth from El to Will obviously seeing tension.

“I think it’s best if-”

“Alone.”

Will peered his head out the door to see the rest of his friends ahead of him, then looked at El. He ran off with a grimace on his face. They could hear him mumble, “Mike’s gonna kill me.”

“Is everything alright?” Eddie asked.

She slowly shook her head.

“I can’t go back to Hawkins.”

“What? But your friends! I thought this was what you wanted!” Richie exclaimed. Eddie’s heart was beating fast.

“I can’t go back! The bad men! They’ll take me away!”

“What bad men? Who’s trying to take you?” Richie kept prying.

“From where I escaped!”

“A Hospital?” 

“It was a dark place with lots of men in white coats. I… I…” she started to breathe heavy, “I can’t go back.”

“Mike will keep you safe. Your friends will keep you safe. They will know what to do.” 

She continued to breathe hard.

“I’m sorry but we have to tell someone.”

“Eddie, no.” She said shaking her head with wide eyes.

“I can’t just do nothing okay? I have to tell Hopper.” He said charging towards the door.

“I said NO!” Suddenly the door slammed on its own. Eddie and Richie’s necks whipped around to look at her with pure shock written on their faces.

“Tell nobody.” She said quietly, her eyes narrowed and hands clenched in a fist. The room was silent aside from the heavy breathing coming from the three of them. Richie watched his heart beating a million times a minute. His eyes widened as he saw blood trickle from her nose.


	7. The Portal

Being seniors and all meant that gym class wasn’t a thing. Instead, it was a span of 40 minutes of being on the football field in the middle of the track where nobody can tell you what to do. Most of the time the other grades are playing soccer or lacrosse, but not the seniors. They tell the gym teacher, “We’re gonna do yoga,” and instead take a nap in the middle of the field. 

Mike and Ben laid flat on their backs looking up at the blue sky. Bev was sitting up watching Richie and Bill across the field playing football with the freshman being complete idiots and acting like utter try hards tackling each other even when they didn’t have the ball. She watched as Richie made a touchdown and started slamming the ball down in celebration even though most of the kids gave up at that point. Suddenly Richie took the ball and kicked it as hard as he could into the woods.

“This idiot just punted the football into the woods!” Bev said watching as all the freshmen threw their hands up while Bill ran sheepishly away. Richie was cackling and avoiding all the gym shoes being thrown at him.

“BILL DENBROUGH GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!” The coach yelled. Stan, Mike, and Ben sat up quickly to see Bill come to a stop, every pair of eyes on him. 

They couldn’t make out what the gym teacher was saying exactly but they could definitely hear a lot of yelling. 

“Why am I not surprised,” Stan said yawning.

“Jesus Christ we have a few more months left until we graduate. Their records are probably atrocious.” Ben said with a sigh.

“All of our records are atrocious, Ben. All those years of covering up for Eddie and Richie and even me.” Bev said.

“I know. I wouldn’t have it any other way though.” Ben said smiling at Bev. She blushed and swatted his shoulder.

Mike made a puking sound and Stan laughed.

“Once Richie’s invention or experiment or whatever the fuck he’s been working on is finished and he finally used it at school, he’s so going to get expelled.

“Yeah and then all six of us will come running into the office saying, “It wasn’t Richie! It was me! No Principal Aaron! He’s lying, it was really me. No don’t listen to him, I did it.” Mike said.

They all laughed. Mike watched Stan’s crinkled eyes and bright smile. He was leaning on his hands behind him so his shoulders hunched up by his ears. Stan tilted his head to the side when he caught Mike staring. He quickly looked away.

\--------------------------------

“Did you see…..? How fucking….. Mad… that one kid got?” Richie said cackling.

“Yeah, I saw it alright. I hate freshmen.”

“Who gives a fuck what they think,” Richie said wiping lifting up his glasses and wiping his eyes.

“Apparently the gym teacher. God forbid you do anything to upset the precious freshmen.” Bill said kicking leaves as they continued walking through the woods. Richie kept laughing.

“I think the first person I’m going to use my invention on is that gym teacher”

Bill shot a look at Richie. “Yeah right, if you wanna get expelled.”

“You think I’m going through all this trouble of hand making, hours in the library, accepting help, pulling all-nighters for nothing? I’m using this damn thing and they can’t do a thing.”

Richie held his nose high and crossed his arms. “I’m a senior and seniors are untouchable.”

Bill rolled his eyes. “Okay you dramatic ass, let's just find this ball and get out of here.”

“Is it just me or is this entire patch of grass dead right here.” Bill said, his hands on his hips, looking at the ground.”

“How much you wanna bet Mrs. White was buried here. That’s why it’s all dead and rotten!”

“Not funny you fuckwad! Don’t joke about the dead!”

“I wasn’t-“ Richie then realized and snapped his mouth shut.

They kept staring at the random patch of death. Everywhere around it was different shades of green, orange and brown except for the patch surrounding the tree stump which was gray and black.

“My guess is some kind of poison,” Bill said.

“What kind of idiot poisons the fucking ground. Especially on school property.”

“I don’t know!”

They continued to bicker and argue about what could have caused it when Richie began to notice something on the side of the stump.

“Wait, Bill.”

“If a psychopath really wanted to poison the-” 

“Shut up and look at this!” Richie said quickly squatting down. Bill snapped his mouth shut and followed his line of vision. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this. What the hell is that?” Richie said in awe.

Bill’s mouth was agape staring at the side of the trunk that was magically moving particles and spinning with shades of purple and gray. It looked exactly like a portal.

“There’s no way it can be a…” Bill trailed off when he saw the look of panic on Richie’s face.

“It’s definitely fake. Is it a like a green screen?” Richie said, his breathing speeding up.

“A green screen? Really?” Bill said giving him a pained expression. Bill got down on his knees and looked closer. He could hear the faint whistle of wind and low rumbling as he got closer. Bill jumped back.

“Stick your hand in it!” Richie told him.

“Are you kidding?”

“Okay, okay look. The tree stump in completely solid and not hollow inside. If your arm goes into that por- whatever that is, then we know it’s real.” Richie said.

“You owe me BIG time.” He mumbled. He gulped and he squeezed his eyes shut and quickly shoved his arm into the portal. Richie gasped as it swallowed his whole arm.

He lunged forward to pull Bill away and noticed his arm was completely covered in slime.

“Holy fucking shit!” Bill yelled.

“This can’t be happening… First the girl! Then this! I don’t fucking get it! What is happening?” His hands were on his head and he was quickly trying to shake the wave of panic over him but he couldn’t get his hands to stop shaking.

With his clean hand, Bill reached up and gripped Richie’s arm and pulled him down close to him. “Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. Just try to imagine that we’re in some type of science fiction movie. We are the main characters and we stumbled upon a portal that could lead to the freaking moon for all we know. As the main characters we need to be brave, alright?” 

As Richie listened to Bill’s words his grip on Bill’s shirt slowly loosened and he slowly began to open his eyes. He hated how good Bill was with words. But at the same time, it was one of the most comforting things to him. His blue eyes were peering into his searching for stability.

“Bill I… I saw something else. Eddie and I promised to never tell but…”

Richie gulped thinking about El. Short for Eleven.

“There was a girl. We found her in the woods and helped her to get back to her friends. But soon to our fucking realization she had supernatural powers and slammed the door shut from the other side of the room with her eyes.”

“How… How did you know it was her that did it.”

“I don’t know! But it was her I’m telling you. Blood trickled from her nose and everything.”

Suddenly Bill’s eyes widened. “Wait what friends were looking for her? Four boys?”

“Uh, yes actually,” Richie said.

“Was she bald?”

“Woah Woah Woah, how do you know this?”

“Those four boys came running into the diner looking for her.”

“Do you think this is where she came from?” Richie asked.

“I have no clue.” 

They went silent for a second.

“Should we tell the others?” Bill asked.

“Eventually,” Richie said. “Until we truly know what’s going on.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for clicking kind soul. Have a great day hope u come back love you


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